Father’s Day Thoughts…    

  

    Father’s Day is almost here again. Like many holidays, not everyone feels like celebrating. That breaks my heart because it means grief in some form; maybe abandonment, abuse, trauma, contentious relationship, or death.

    My father passed away 6 years ago, and I still miss him.  I wish every child could have the childhood that I had. I loved my dad. The expression everyone used who knew us then was, “She lives in her dad’s pocket” because I went everywhere with him. I rode on the tractor behind him when he plowed the fields. I rode on his shoulders when he would go tend the animals. I followed him around the house and barnyard. If he was going to town, I was going to town. You get the picture: I loved my dad and I knew he loved me. I never had any doubts about his love because he was the father God intended fathers to be; men who modeled their lives after Him, and raised their children in love, protection, and provided for their needs.

   I realize that I had an exceptional, blessed childhood, and unfortunately, a great many children of the past and present, did not or will not have that happy and safe environment.  If you are one of those children, whatever your age now, I’m here to tell you that you do have a father who loves you without condition, and will protect you from harm, and provide for your every need.

       God refers to Himself as our father because He is the one who created us, and He is the one who desires to meet our every need, keep us safe from all harm, teach us good things, and lavish us with His love and gifts.

    When you step out in faith and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are at that moment, an adopted child of God- chosen by Him to be His heir, His son or daughter, His delight, and the Apple of His Eye.

The J.B. Phillips version of Romans 8:14-17 says this:

       All who follow the leading of God’s Spirit are God’s own sons and daughters. Nor are you meant to relapse into the old slavish attitude of fear—you have been adopted into the very family circle of God and you can say with a full heart, “Father, my Father”. The Spirit himself endorses our inward conviction that we really are the children of God. Think what that means. If we are his children we share his treasures, and all that Christ claims as his will belong to all of us as well! Yes, if we share in his suffering we shall certainly share in his glory.

     Or as NIV version says “…we call him Abba Father”, which means “Daddy”. As a child of God, you have the right to call out to Him, and spiritually crawl onto His welcoming lap, and call him “Daddy”, and share the desires of your heart.

    Oh, and here's a footnote to my "daddy" story:  On the night I was born, my father lay in a hospital bed at the point of death. It was in rural Iowa in February 1951. He was dying of toxic poisoning from a burst appendix. Penicillin was a brand new discovery just beginning to be used in a few hospitals in the largest urban areas of the country. And yet, God brought penicillin to that tiny hospital in that tiny town before most of the world even knew it existed. God intervened to bring complete healing to a man that the physicians said had no hope of recovery.  Just so you know: God is our Healer, too!  What a wonderful daddy I had then, and what an awesome God-Daddy I have now, and for all eternity!

    Just a few more days until June 19^th, the day we set aside to celebrate Fathers.  Rejoice! Because we have the true King of Dads for our father! Remember to express your love and gratefulness to him, the Lord Jehovah, your Daddy, your Eternal Father.

       Psalm 103:1-5   a psalm of David.

 I will praise the Lord.
    Deep down inside me, I will praise him.
    I will praise him, because his name is holy.
I will praise the Lord.
    I won’t forget anything he does for me.
He forgives all my sins.
    He heals all my sicknesses.
He saves my life from going down into the grave.
    His faithful and tender love makes me feel like a king.
 He satisfies me with the good things I desire.
    Then I feel young and strong again, just like an eagle.